Tandem chuck wind-up



F. S. POLLOCK, JR

TANDEM CHUCK WIND-UP INVENTOR.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 17, 1948 FRANKSCOTTPOLLOCHJ BY A 'I'TORNE YAug. 4, 1953 F. S. POLLOCK, JR

TANDEM CHUCK WIND-UP 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 17, 1948 INVENTOR.FRANK SCOTTPOLLOCK,

ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 4, 1953 hate-7 697 I ..I'IIIANDEM cuticle WIND-UrScott PolIock; Jr., si'gnov t0"-E;I .I\di1 Pont de 4Wilmington,.Del.,.aa corporation of eelaware I 'AppIicationFebrua-ry 17,I948,,SerialNo. 8,789 lo eiaims. c1. zit-eels) Frame I I I Thisinvention relates to Winding'machines and more particularly tothe'winding, of filamentous structures; such as; a yarn". or thread orany" such continuous: filament; tya method and withapparatus which. areadapted to increase by a large amount) the capacity of industrialplantssuch; as texirlletplants. I I

B'y' ffi'lam'ent'ousstructures is meant monofllam ents; yarns; threads;strands, cords, ropes;

fibers and, the like; Accordingly; the structure maybe' coniposed." of asinglefilament or a pluralityof filaments; I

' In conventional 'windf-upoperations yarn or the'rlike'is' taken. from.the supply source, such as a; spihneret; and-is passedthrough-feed'rollsonto a: bobbin drivenby surface-contact with-a revolvirrg pdrlverollaThe surface speed of the bobbin isith esameas' that-of thefldrivihg"roll. A single thread iswound in this way' on the bobbin at a certainspeed. A single'traverseguide isused in the operation.Inithisimethodicapacity per unit can be increased only by. increasing.wind-up speeds While this method has been satisfactory, with increasing.production it has become desirableto increase wind-up capacityfurther.This could easily. be. done. by merely. increasing. the numberofiproduotion units.- In the interestsofi economy: iir' equipment andspace such a procedure isnot commercially-- feasible.- Similarly;wind-up units are' normally) run at optimum speeds. and, additional.capacity; cannot. be. ob-- tained by. increasing. windy-up. speedswithout some sacrifice such; as-a loss in. yarn. quality. or an.excessive increaseimmaintenance cost, I I

Accordingly, it..is an. obJectof/this. invention. to. provide.aamethod.=wherebn windi-uprcapacity may; be. greatiyincreased while;employingsubstantially the same amountuof. equipmentandzspacel It, is a;turthen obj ectto. provide a method for increasingz the: productioncapacity, of. each wind I up position; A. still? further object. istheprop visiona of apparatus for the. winding of filamentousst ucturea at,greatlyincreased-,Q@ hecities,. to produce. packages. of higho1.uality,-.v It ,Ehese. andother-obj cts appearihereinafter,, I I

- Thesaobjects, are; accomplishedbupassing, as atunitha pluralityc-ftfilamentous structures such threads; from: a; plurality ofi supplysources through; a; guide. mechanism such: as. a single traverseguide orai-plunalitylof traverse guides I appropriately placed; and; then;passing each, structure;tcxsitstirespective win(it-upmore; such astabobbin, spool} etc" -eachzorzvvhichiis.surface driven: by thee same;-'driving roller; ultimate separation of tlie structures occ'urring atthe-.peintzofzwinde- Martinsvillc; Va., as Ne'mours Gompanygup of one ofthe structures. For" example, two threads of a1 yarn are passedJfrQm a,supply source through a single traverse guide as one thread of yarn andthen. into the nip formed by the first bobbin and the. drive roller; Thethreads are then separated":v one" threadis passed through the nip to;the. top surfa'cedriven bobbinandii's wound thereon,' and theotherthr'ead. is passed between the. top bobbin and the drive rollerfollowing" the drive. roll toa lower bobbin which is immediate=lybel'owi the upper bobbin and upon whichthe threadiisiwoundl By thisinvention it. is possible to cause a lurality of'filam'entous'structuresto follow a. guidemechan-ism', running one. structureunderneath one or more wind-up" cores and by so; doing. wind a.plurality of acceptable yarn packages in each wind-up pcsition withoutde creasing. the quality of the filamentous struc= tures The inventionwill. be more clearlyunderstdod by reference to the followingfigures'which illus trate. one of'various possible embodiments 05f myinvention and ofwhich Eigure, 1., is! a front elevation of the tandemchuck wind-up of this. invention;

Figure 2 1's asection online 2-2 of. Figure 1, showing; the windingmachine. of" this invention infer-eater detail; I

Figure 3 isasection on line-Si-K ofFigure 1;

showing the. upper and; lower bobbin operation in greaterdetail} IFigure.- 4.. isla detail sectional plan on line 4-4 of- Figure 5, eshowing of. the brake mechanism: of the lower: bobbin;.

Figure: 5 is an elevation further showing the brake mechanism of the;lower bobbin. and.

Figureb is a-lsectional detailedvview of theycom pensating spring and;set. screw. employed. in the operation of the: upper bebbini In Figures1;, 2, and 3; driving; roll-er- I v aflixed triand rotated by shaft 2supported on-a trame. and driven by; aimotop neither of which'isshovvnzDriving roller-l drives azplurality ofupper bob-- bins 3: and: aplurality 0ft lower. bobbins 4- when its is: rotating? and thabobbinsare in-surface. con, tacttwiths it. Thesupper bobbinstimay bemovedintoor out? of: surface: contact: by; the; pivotedT lever arm-bi These armsare pivotedin bearing contained-1h upright: l: which:- iSJbOItBd to theframe 81 Attached? at the; upper endoi: thelever: arm? 5i i'si a: brake:handle" 9 which; is pivoted; on lever: arm 5: at point H1: and: has": a:spring; N; at-- tached to. it;- and: to. arm; 5;. This; can; be. seenreadily." in: Figure 2: Asseem as? the; bobbin 3; is:

' removedtfrom contact: with: the; driving roll the handle 9 and arm aregripped manually and squeezed together. This forces the brake shoe I3hard against the inside surface of the chuck and the rotating chuck andyarn carrying bobbin come to a stop. At the same time the bobbin ispulled into the doff position shown in Figure 2 by dotted lines l2. Thebobbin can then be readily removed and replaced by a fresh bobbin. Asshown in Figure 1, affixed to the lever arm 5 is a counter weight I4which cooperates with compensating spring I5 which is attached to theframe member I6 (see Figures 3 and 6). This spring is of the compressiontype and tends to push the bobbin 3 away from the drive roll. The forceis exerted on set screw I1 fixed in arm 5. This screw is adjusted sothat the counter-weight and the spring coact throughout the wind-up insuch a manner that the pressure of the rotating bobbin on the drive rollis carefully controlled. Since a free falling bobbin, spool, chuck orcore would damage the roller I, an arresting screw l8 attached to framemember 16 is provided to stop any such bobbin before it hits the roll,thereby preventing damage.

From an examination of Figure 2 it can be seen that the upper bobbins 3rest on drive roller I to some extent by force of gravity at the startof the wind-up and it moves away from roller I while. yarn collects onit. The dotted circular line I9 shows the bobbin 3 in one position afterwind-up for a given time. The dotted circular line I2 shows the bobbinin doff position. The lower bobbin 4, however, is not held againstroller I by gravity and a somewhat different construction is preferred.Unlike the upper counter weight I4, the lower counter weight 20 is notattached directly to its corresponding lever arm, the lower bobbinpivoted arm 2I. Counterweight 20 and lower arm 2I are pivotallyconnected through the rod 22 and bearing 23, all being supported by theframe upright member 1. Thus, as the bobbin 4 moves away from roller I,the arm 2I drops downward and the counterweight 20 moves upward.

' Lower compensating spring 24 is attached to arm 2 I .at point 25 andto the frame member I6 at point 25. As yarn builds up, the bobbin 4moves away from the roller l, the frictional contact being supplied bysuccessive layers of yarn on the bobbin. The spring 24 and lowercounterweight 20 are so designed that they coact to keep the bobbin 4throughout wind-up held against roller I and exerting a certain optimumpressure. A yarn carrying position of the bobbin 4 is shown by dottedline 21 and the doff position by dotted line 28. Like the upper chuck,the lower is prevented from being inadvertently allowed to fall onroller I by the arresting device or set screw 23 which is attached asshown to the frame member I6, as shown in Figure 2. The arrangement oflower bobbins 4 and counter-weights, etc. may also be seen in Figure 1.It is, of course, within this invention to employ other mechanicaldevices which are equivalent to the pivoted mountings for the wind-upcores, or to the pressure regulating, co-acting counter-weights andcompensating springs, or the arresting devices, or guide mechanism orthe brake mechanisms.

The rotation of the lower bobbin 4 may be stopped by operation of abrake device similar to that described above for the upper bobbin 3.However, a slightly different construction is utilized for properspacing. The spacing must permit the ready removal and insertion of thebobbins. The figures, as, for example, Figures 1 and 2, show theposition of the lower grip affixed to lower pivoted arm 2 I. By grippingthis rod 30 and pulling downward, the lower bobbin may be moved to doffposition 28. Lower brake handle 3| and lower brake shoe 32 may be seenin greater detail in Figures 4 and 5.

The yarn travel may be seen most readily in Figure 2. A plurality offilamentous structures 33, such as yarns, coming from a source (notshown) such as a spinneret pass through the slot 34 of a traverse guidemechanism 35. For convenience the apparatus has been diagrammed to showhow two yarns have been handled. After the two yarns have passed throughthe traverse guide as a single unit one thread 36 is wound up on upperbobbin 3. The other designated as 31 passes between the upper yarn cake38 (shown in Figure 1) and the drive roller I. It then passes around aportion of roller I and between the nip of roller I and lower bobbin 4,and is then wound on bobbin 4 to form lower cake 38. Thus, the lowerthread 39 surprisingly follows the traverse guide mechanism 35 eventhough the thread passes through a tortuous path. It is in frictionalcontact at three places, first between the roller I and the upper yarncake 38 then with roller I to bobbin 4 and again between the roller Iand the lower yarn cake 39. In spite of this, yarn quality is notsacrificed. No noticeable difference can be detected in the physicalproperties of the yarn in cake 38 nor in that of cake 39 when comparedto each other or to yarn wound in a conventional manner using acomparable, but single threadand a single bobbin similarly driven.Further, very high speeds can be employed to produce this high qualityyarn. This is, indeed, a surprising result when one considers thepressure exerted at the points of frictional contact and the additionalcontact of yarn on yarn. The table below indicates the efliciency of theprocess:

Tabla-(Nylon yarn) peed Br k/ Brk Fna li i es s ejec s or Yards/Min.Pound fi Brk.Fila.,

' Percent Tandem l, 200 0. 51 0.08 0. Standard 967 0.56 0.10 1.10

1 Two cakes per bobbin (twin cake process).

Thus, results equal to old process are-obtained by this invention andthis is true even if the yarn speeds are higher. Cost analysis indicatesthat a 75% reduction over standard wind-up processes and equipment maybe obtained by this invention. The combination of high yarn quality andhigh production rate makes this invention of outstanding value.

The process and apparatus of this invention, thus, provide forexceedingly unexpected results. The winding of yarn in this manner athigh speeds without snagging, breakage, wrapping on wrong bobbins, poorbobbin formation, relaxing non-uniformly ,etc. is indeed surprising. Asmentioned above the pressure exerted on the roller I by the bobbinsshould be carefully controlled for best results. This pressure depends,in part, upon the kind of filament being wound. For yarn, the pressuredepends, among other factors, on the denier of the yarn being processed.The pressure can be as low as 500 grams and as high as 5000 grams. Forexample, for 20 denier polyamide yarn it is preferred to adjust thecoacting counter weights and compensating springs so that apressure of1700; grams is; exerted; on a 5 inch linear surface; If too high apressune is. used: the packagesifiatten out and-lose thcie formation. Iftoo: low a presenceis used; thepackage may run slowly causing yarnbreaks to occun on the feed. roll, or a build-up of soft yarn packagethat flattens out may occur resulting :againfin poor formation. Whilepressures: higherand. lower than. those indicatedmay be employed; it: ispreferred for most purposes tot use pressures between about 100: grams.and woe. per-inch of'linear surface. As indicated-in. the tableexcellent: results are obtained. in this: invention-using a yarn. speedof 1.200. yds. per min. The invention: isnot limited. in. this: respectand lower orhigher speeds. may be employed. lln iact,-the=tandem chuckwind-i up of this invention:- may be used at. any speed: where astandard tree: driven bobbin can. be. used."'-'.-

Noris the invention limited. to thettype of." filament being wound.Theyarns may: bathose prepared from natural; materials: such as: wool,cotton or silk or they may. be: synthetic: mate-. rials prepared fromcellulose. derivatives, such as cellulose: acetate orfromothenpolymeric. materials including viscose, acrylonitrile polymers,polyamides, polyesters; polyester-amides, or vinyl polymers; such: as:vinyl: chloride. polymers. Likes. wise filaments from inorganic.materials, such. as

metallic. wires. may: be: wound on the apparatus of this invention. The.filaments. processed. may vary-widely in. size. For example, nylon.yarns iirom. 66 to. 1000; denier .Cundrawn yarn). have. been woundsuccessfully by: the, process of. this. intention, .The process andapparatus of this; invention may, of; course. be; used in connection.withdrawing processes: and machines. The vari- 01.18.138.1l7sz0fi theapparatus may bemade of any appropriate material, such. as. metals.valloys, D1318.- tic, glass, enamels, etc.

- 'lifhe apparatus may tie-adapted toprocess more. than two.filamentous; structures. simultaneously; For example, for each positiontwo-additional. bobbins can. be. run, one upper bobbin. positioned.opposite.- bobbin; 3 and another lower bobbin op.- posite bobbin t.Further; the.- diameter of. the; driving rollercan. be greatlyincreased; to ac-.-. commodate one or more-bobbins. between uppen bobbin3'. and: lower bobbin 4:. Also. the length of thedrive roller'may be;very large: The. ptoca r ess and apparatus of this invention therebyprovide means for greatly increasing plant capacity; The wind-up capacityis doubled pen-unit lengthof drive roll: when using" two. bobbins intandem, is tripled when using 3 bobbins in tandem, etc. For example,machines are usually designed so that there-iszone wind-up bobbin foreach spinneret. A specific denier must be produced, al.- though thespinneret is capable of producing light or heavy deniers. In comparingthestandard method of spinning oneendof40 denier and winding to onebobbin as against spinning '80 denier, splitting to two ends oi 40den-Tier, and winding each end to a separate bobbin of two in tandem,the output per position is doubled. ThuS there results an outstandingadvantageous economy in space, equipment. ,and time The. a ovedescription; has-shown the; operation of this invention using a singletraverse guide. While the use of only one traverse guide is highlydesirable in the interests of space and equipment, it is possible andoccasionally desir able to employ as the guide mechanism a plurality oftraverse guides. For example, two traverse guides may be used, one infront of the 1 bar and spaced 0.5 inch apart.

a 34 of thread: guide 35'.

respectively; Two thread thereon; passing the remainder other. Further,two. traverse guidesmay. be used: one along side of theother and,fastened to; the same traverse bar; In winding bobbins from warps usingthislatten arrangement, a desirable uniform; displacement of threadsacross: the roll surface occurs. To illustrate, each: of: LOiendsspacedv 0.5. inch apart. from a. warp. 4.5 inches wide are passedindividually through. a. traverse guide, the 1'0: guides: being on thesame traverse Ten Wind-up bobbins are placed one behind theotherwiththeir center lines offset 0.5 inch from the leading bobbins, therebyaccomplishing the desired displacement. Still further if: two sets ofthreads 2 are to be. wound on opposite sides of the same bobbin driveroll, theuse of. a second traverse barand' asecond guide is. desirable.

For example, a yarn. comprising four filaments A, B, C, and D. can bepassed! through the: slot: Thread A may be: passed to bobbin 3: in a.manner similar to yarn 362. Thread 33. may be wound on. bobbin It likeyarn: 3?. Similarly threads. C and D may be passed: to. bobbins located;opposite tobobbinsv 3 and; 4 guides may be used it desired.

The process and apparatus of this invention may also be used'tobreak upaplurality ofi filamentous structures into smaller pluralitiesp Foreexample, a structure comprising filaments may be wound so that: '75. 0fthe filaments: are wound on the top bobbin. 3" and the remainder on. thebottom. bobbin 4. Packages so. produced are; useful. in. furtheroperations, either inv fur-then separations or in. recombina-tions. tofomn. strands;

cords; etc. It. is. also; possible. to. form more than onecake on. a.bobbin. Forexample, a total: of six unit, filamentous structuues of.66'. denier each is fed. to; the. apparatus; so. that two. unit.structures go to; each. of: three guide mechanisms. situated. abovetheupper bobbin: 3; and; a: sufficient: distance apart toallow for. a.convenient; space between the cakes. Three cakes are formed onv theuppers bobbinfiirom. a unitstructurepassing thru each oi? the: three;guides; and the remaining; 3 unit;

stnuctures pass. in. the usual? manner to lower" bobbin. t; and. arewound. thereon: to formthreeindividualcakes. The apparatus and processof" this. invention-.- permit .a. large variety of. wind-ups.

Any; departure .from theabove description which conforms to the presentinvention is intended to be included Within the scope of the claims.

Iclaimz .1.v A processfor winding, filamentous structures which;comprises. surface driving a core on upper section of a:- rotating driveroll; surface driving: a. second core on. a lower section of saidrotating drive roll; passing a plurality ofsaid structures through. a.guide. mechanism and then. through the nip termed: by the said: upperwindup core. and said drive roll; separating: a. portion oi. saidstructures. from. said. plurality;- passing this portion: to, said;vupper core and Winding it of? said plurality. through.- they nip formed;by said: lower wind up core. and. said: drive. roll; and-5 windingsaidremainder on; said: lower; core.

2. A process for winding filamentous structures which comprises rotatingan upper wind-up core on an upper section of a rotating drive roll;rotating a lower wind-up core on a lower section of said drive roll;passing a plurality of said structures through a guide mechanism andthen through the nip formed by said upper core 7 and said drive roll;separating a portion of said plurality; passing this portion to saidupper core and winding it thereon; passing the remainder of saidplurality through the nip formed by said lower core and said drive roll;separating a second portion of said plurality; passing this secondportion to said lower core and winding it thereon; and repeating theprocess until the final portion of said plurality is wound separately ona core.

3. A process in accordance with claim 2 in which the pressure exerted onthe said drive roll between the said wind-up cores is controlled.

4. Apparatus for separating and winding on individual cores filamentousstructures travelling in a group which comprises a traversing guide; adrive roll having a smooth surface; an upper wind-up core surface-drivenon an upper section of said drive roll to receive a portion of saidstructures; a lower Wind-up core surface-driven on a lower section ofsaid drive roll to receive another portion of said structures; and aguide comprising a section of said smooth surface on said drive roll,said section being exposed between said upper and said lower wind-upcores to contact the portion of said structure that by-passes one ofsaid cores in its travel to the other of said cores.

- 5. A plurality of the apparatus in accordance with claim 4 arranged intier fashion 6. Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 containing pressureregulating devices for said upper core and for said lower core.

7. Apparatus for separating and winding on individual cores a pluralityof filamentous structures which comprises, in combination, a drive rollhaving a smooth surface; an upper wind-up core surface-driven on anupper section of said roll to receive a portion of said structures; in alower position in respect to said upper core, a lower wind-up coresurface-driven on a lower section of said roll to receive anotherportion of said structures; a guide for simultaneously traversing aportion of said plurality of said structures on said upper core and aportion of said plurality of said structures on said lower core as eachportion is wound on its respective core; and a guide comprising asection of said smooth surface on said drive roll, said section beingexposed between said upper and said lower wind-up cores to contact theportion of said structure that bypasses one of said cores in its travelto the other of said cores.

8. Apparatus for separating and winding on individual cores a pluralityof filamentous structures which comprises, in combination, a drive rollhaving a smooth surface; an upper wind-up core surface-driven on anupper section of said roll to receive a portion of said structures; in alower position in respect to said upper core, a lower wind-up coresurface-driven on a lower section of said roll to receive anotherportion of said structures; pressure regulating devices for said uppercore and for said lower core; a guide for simultaneously traversing aportion of said plurality of said structures on said upper core and aportion of said plurality of said structures on said lower core as eachportion is wound on its respective core; and a guide comprising asection of said smooth surface on said drive roll, said section beingbetween said upper and said lower wind-up cores and being exposed tocontact the portion of said structure that by-passes one of said coresin its travel to the other of said cores.

9. Apparatus for separating and winding on individual cores a pluralityof filamentous structures which comprises, in combination, a drive rollhaving a smooth surface; an upper wind-up core surface-driven on anupper section of said roll to receive a portion of said structures; in alower position in respect to said upper core a lower wind-up coresurface-driven on a lower section of said roll to receive anotherportion of said structures; counter-weights and compensating springs forsaid upper core and for said lower core; pivoted mountings for saidupper core and for said lower core; a guide for simultaneouslytraversing a portion of said plurality of said structures on said uppercore and a portion of said plurality of said structures on said lowercore as each portion is wound on its respective core; and a guidecomprising a section of said smooth surface on said drive roll, saidsection being exposed between said upper and said lower wind-up cores tocontact the portion of said structures that by-passes one of said coresin its travel to the other of said cores.

10. Apparatus for separating and winding on individual cores a pluralityof filamentous structures which comprises, in combination, a drive rollhaving a smooth surface; an upper wind-up core surface-driven on anupper section of said roll to receive a, portion of said structures; ina lower position in respect to said upper core a lower Wind-up coresurface-driven on a lower section of said roll to receive anotherportion of said structures; counter-weights and compensating springs forsaid upper core and for said lower core; pivoted mountings for saidupper core and for said lower core; arresting devices for said upper andsaid lower cores; a guide for simultaneously traversing a portion ofsaid plurality of said structures on said upper core and a portion ofsaid structure on said lower core as each portion is wound on itsrespective core; and a guide comprising a section of said smooth surfaceon said drive roll, said section being exposed between said upper andsaid lower wind-up cores to contact the portion of said structures thatbypasses one of said cores in its travel to the other of said cores.

FRANK SCOTT POLLOCK, JR.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName 1 Date 427,696 Klots et al May. 13, 1890 1,595,818 Bliss Aug. 10,1926 1,655,155 McKean Jan. 3, 1938 2,129,411 Duncklee Sept. 6, 19382,211,954 Lewis Aug. 20, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 6,347Great Britain Mar. 14, 1912 13,824 Great Britain Aug. 1, 1900

